The truth about a complex built for veterans and the middle class and how it has evolved through the years to become one of the more interesting and controversial of New York stories.

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Management has two priorities: 1) Making sure money is made, hence upgrading and filling up apartments is their goal. "Amenities" are important in selling the place, though few residents use them. 2) If someone needs medical attention, Public Safety will be there, if alerted.

Quality of life issues are not that important, however. Things like the carpet rule or outsider dogs. These "rules" tend to be ignored, on purpose it seems. So you will see a lot that isn't taken care of properly, and complaints will be met with a creative excuse and a smile.

"Peace and quiet" must be a cruel joke, though this property is sold that way. There can be no peace and quiet as ALL apartments must be upgraded, which includes the installation of an AC unit below the window. Aside from the continual construction about the neighborhood, there is a new and noisy subway extension being built along East 14 st and the shut down of the L line. "Choosing" to live in NYC, now the newest mantra, is a fabrication when the talk is of ST and PCV, which was traditionally quiet, with no construction noise.

Though money was always important, it is now more important than ever. Money rules many things, as you will find.

At this point, 30 years into living here and seeing many things, I can state that Management and their reps are BS-ing us. I can't say that loudly enough: We are being BS-ed. I don't see any genuine change, though the "selling" of this place is intense. Few of the "rules" will be enforced, as Management doesn't want to lose customers or potential customers. Where personal integrity is a hallmark of an excellent management style, this integrity is not seen in enforcing some of the rules.

About those "club cars" we see going this way and that way, and outside of Stuy Town or Peter Cooper Village:

Monday, October 26, 2015

And now, the Socialist View

"This yardstick of affordability for an apartment for a family of
three compares to a citywide median household income of about $60,000,
less than half this amount. In Brooklyn and the Bronx, the median income
is even less—about $45,000 in Brooklyn and less than $40,000 in the
Bronx, the city’s poorest borough.

"This notion of affordability is
pitched to the top 10 percent of the city’s earners, at best. In
addition, in a backhanded admission of just how limited this deal is,
Blackstone tosses a few tiny crumbs to families that fall below
six-figure annual incomes. The owners promise to put aside 500
apartments in the complex, less than 5 percent of the total, for
families making up to $62,150 annually. They would pay up to $1,553 a
month for two bedrooms. Even this figure, covering a tiny fraction of
the apartments in the complex, is beyond the means of a majority of
families."

The new deal for Stuyvesant Town reveals that the situation has not fundamentally improved since three-term mayor Michael Bloomberg was succeeded by the “progressive” de Blasio.

Bloomberg, the well-known billionaire and direct representative of the plutocracy, presided over record inequality. He welcomed the 2006 development that openly threatened the destruction of Stuyvesant Town.

Basically, everyone will just care about his/her status. The MRs know what might be coming for them after 2020. They'd better start getting ready.

The long time low renter are unaffected.

There were a lot of questions that could have been raised in the meeting, but it wasn't worth it. Steinberg conducted this meeting as a pep rally for the deal. Any skepticism would have been roundly booed and put down. The place was packed with TA supporters. I guess the MRs had just given up. So the meeting was structured so that the politicians could be honored and the deal supported to the long time tenants. And just to make sure the deal got sold to us for his legacy and re-election, the mayor showed up. To show how important selling this to us was, they all showed up: deBlasio, Schumer, Maloney, Hoylman, Kavanagh, Brewer, Garodnick...I'm surprised they didn't get Biden or Obama.Actually, Susan Steinberg probably considers herself the net-winner. She's sold to many that she and the TA helped do something for us and she was a useful to the politicians with whom she's now on a hugging basis.

Mulrow has spent the last few years as a senior managing director at the Blackstone Group, a firm you may remember from when they basically paid another firm to delay a debt payment so that they could profit from a bunch of triggered default swaps. This was apparently perfectly legal, but says so much about the way the world actually works.

But enough with the history lesson. Here’s a little something about Mulrow that speaks volumes about Cuomo, his priorities and how he sees the world, something that you were never supposed to know. Back in early 2012, Mulrow, a banker, performed a skit at a secret gathering of other 1% assholes at the St. Regis Hotel (“what happens at the St. Regis stays at the St. Regis“) in Manhattan. It wasn’t pretty.

In another skit, William Mulrow , a senior managing director at the Blackstone Group, put on raggedy clothes to play the part of an Occupy protester. Emil W. Henry Jr., a managing partner at Tiger Infrastructure Partners and a fellow new Kappa, joined him dressed as a wealthy baron.

“Bill, look at you! You’re pathetic, you liberal! You need a bath!” Mr. Henry said, voice full of mock indignation.

So just a couple of years after people like Mulrow blew up the entire global economy in an orgy of greed and self dealing, visiting misery and despair upon literally billions of people, Bill Mulrow, mega wealthy asshole, was standing up at a secret gathering of the other mega wealthy assholes responsible and was making fun of those who took it upon themselves to stand up point fingers their way. It’s never funny when the powerful punch down, Mr. Mulrow.

But it gets even better. Cuomo created a charity, made mostly of wealthy Cuomo donors, to distribute relief money through something called the Housing Trust Fund Corporation to homeowners devastated by Hurricane Sandy. That fund had just two board members, Darryl Towns and one Bill Mulrow. The charity drew sharp criticism when it was discovered that, while thousands of New York homeowners were waiting for relief, millions were disbursed to two troubled Brooklyn state-sponsored housing developments. Those developments were managed by…Blackstone.

It was all on the up and up though, Blackstone insisted.....

So that’s who Andrew Cuomo has chosen to become his new right hand man. That’s who Cuomo has put right into the governor’s office on the 2nd floor.

And that says a lot about what we can expect from Andrew Cuomo’s second term."

NEW YORK, New York (April 4, 2012) -William Mulrow today begins his tenure as Chairman of the New York State Housing Finance Agency (HFA), and the State of New York Mortgage Agency (SONYMA), two of the agencies included within New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR).

HCR Commissioner/CEO Darryl C. Towns said, "Governor Andrew Cuomo's transformative plan to break down silos and make New York State 'Open for Business' is embodied in his appointment of Bill Mulrow. We are very excited about Bill's appointment. His extensive public and private sector experience vividly illustrate the Governor's mission to invest state dollars most efficiently, while attracting billions in private resources to grow New York's economy and create jobs."

http://www.nyshcr.org/Press/News120404.htm

Steinberg left this out, they all left out this little fact, in all their speeches.

This is the only published article actually containing thoughtful, critical analysis picking apart bogus talking points and P.R. spin. The writing is clear, concise and incisive. It reads like Bagli's historical investigative reporting on PCVST for the Times before he got lazy.

All I know is that MY rent ALWAYS goes up every 2 years, along with these MCI'S.My salary cannot keep up with it. They can say all they want, but it's getting impossible to live here anymore. Rents should be structured to your annual income.

Well, here's the most I can do wheb the time comes. Not vote for deBlasio, Hoylman and Garodnick. May vote for Kavanagh. Am curious what others think about him. Will probably not vote for Brewer. Don't recall her at the other meetings. Curious why she showed up for this one.

Attorney General Schneiderman is pushing Dan Garodnick for Mayor? I guess Dan knows where the Attorney General's skeletons are buried. Dan drove this community into the ground while letting developers dig it up. October 1, 2015 at 6:04 PM

How soon will we be rid of Campus Crock? I can't wait to see those assholes depart. I hope they shut down that hideous leasing office and brokers' welcome center on First Avenue. The first thing the new management should do is re-assign the porters back to their old shifts. When will the Satanic CW officially cease to be our landlord/controller/servicer - whatever?

"Attorney General Schneiderman is pushing Dan Garodnick for Mayor? I guess Dan knows where the Attorney General's skeletons are buried. Dan drove this community into the ground while letting developers dig it up.October 1, 2015 at 6:04 PM"

I'd vote for Charles Manson before I'd vote for that toad. Where the Hell is Preet Bharara these days? We need him to drag Cuomo and his scummy cohorts into court by their garbanzos.

Until There Is Silence No More

The Tenants Association and our councilman Dan Garodnick have mysteriously remained silent about a purported incident that occurred on July 12: the mugging by a group of individuals of someone right by Peter Cooper Village, along 20th Street.

The TA is basically done. Tenants can complain, but any action is negligible. The TA is effectively dead.

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"We'll be introducing a new process to identify registered dogs thus enabling Public Safety Officers to clearly approach offending dog owners. The registration will hang from the leash handle; clearly identifying the dog as registered.

"If the dog is not registered by May 1; a summons will be issued at the point of contact. If we learn the dog owner is not a resident, they will be escorted off the property."

Rick Hayduk, CEO and General Manager of PCVST. Letter to Barry Shapiro, February 2016.

STR here: I have been around since the inception of this dog policy and I have NEVER seen anyone escorted out of ST or PCV with their non-lanyard dog. But I have seen, many times, a dog owner from outside, and his/her dog, casually walking through ST or PCV.

THINKING of Renting in PCVST?

Read Yelp reviews to find out what it's like living here. Please note: All apartments are currently "rent-stabilized" but that doesn't prevent apartments from going up to 4K to 6K a month and even higher. How does this happen? Ask our politicians! Fact: Now less than half of the complex's apartments have the old rents and it's getting worse year by year--or better if you are the Real Estate Board of New York!

The Other Yelp Reviews

Yelp can be tricky and bounce reviews for a variety of reasons, like being a member and posting just one review. Very often, however, these reviews hold important truths about what's being reviewed. READ THESE TOO.

BICYCLES, MOPEDS, SCOOTERS, ETC.

Of course, "private property" but "public access" - whatever that means! And if a part of it is public access, do the rules of the city apply to our roads and sidewalks? Or does anything give because this complex is "private property"? Who comes here in case of a fire in one of our buildings? The Stuy Town Fire Brigade?

Hint: Look both ways if you are in the complex. Look on the ground, too!

61.03 Control of dogs and other animals to prevent nuisance. (a) A person who owns, possesses or controls a dog, cat or other animal shall not permit the animal to commit a nuisance on a sidewalk of any public place, on a floor, wall, stairway, sidewalk, lawn, garden or roof of any public or private premises used in common by the public, or on a fence, wall [or], stairway or entranceway of a building abutting on a public place

Banned & Oversize Dog Breeds in Stuy Town

Looks like there is some difficulty in enforcing the ban on certain dog breeds allowed inside Stuy Town/Peter Cooper Village. Somehow pitbulls and pitbull mixes have been registered in STPCV and are allowed to be freely walked about the grounds! Registered dogs in the complex are max 50 pounds. Total, if there is more than one! More than two, it's illegal. It's going to get worse, and, face it, Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village will never be like it once was.

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Read it and Weep

Current Value of ST/PCV

Was 5.4 Billion Dollars when Tishman Speyer bought the place.Became 1.7 Billion Dollars when Tishman Speyer left, with their tail between their legs. Of course, tenants now have to make up the loss.

Ex-landlord

Rob Speyer

1947 Stuy Town Plaque Honoring Met Life Chairman F.H. Ecker (Removed in 2002 and never seen again)

"... who with the vision of experience and the energy of youth conceived and brought into being this project, and others like it, that families of moderate means might live in health, comfort and dignity in park-like communities and that a pattern might be set of private enterprise productively devoted to public service."

I am writing on behalf of everyone at Tishman Speyer to express how honored we are to become part of your outstanding community. We are a business with deep roots in New York, a true love of our city and a great respect for the neighborhoods that make it special. We are committed to maintaining the unique character and environment that have made Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town such a wonderful place to live for so long. We look forward to providing you an extraordinary level of service and attentiveness that will be the source of pride and satisfaction for the entire community.

Neighborhood Recommendations

New to Stuy Town/Peter Cooper Village? Here are some basic recommendations.

Best supermarket: Associated on 14th St. between 1st Ave. and Ave A. The cheapest prices, fantastic weekly sales, very affordable lunches; solid, responsive management, but earthy. Some of the young female cashiers have attitude to spare, though. May be too far for Peter Cooper residents.

Best gym: Don't waste your money on the Oval Fitness Gym. Instead go to the earthy but real Asser Levy Recreational Center, right above 23rd St on Asser Levy Place (near the FDR Drive). $75 for a year's membership; seniors are almost free. Contains seasonal indoor and outdoor swimming pools, ping-pong table, two pool tables. Called by some rich people who wouldn't get caught going there "the prison gym," and you know why.

A Stuy Town favorite is Lenz's on 20 St. between the 20 St. Loop. The way New York used to be. Be careful of unwanted "pepper" in your food, however. Lenz's got a B grade rating and was temporarily closed down due to an order from the Health Department. Bruno's on First Avenue is more upscale, with a greater selection of food items (higher-priced, too), but was closed down temporarily by the Health Department. Stuy Town's own cafe was closed, too! And not because of all the dogs that hover and piss outside.

Gracefully has two locations, but we prefer for its size the one on 1st Ave. Prices are high and reflect the new tenants that are currently renting Stuy Town and Peter Cooper apartments. ("Do you have a credit card?") We like Gracefully's lunch specials, which are somewhat affordable.

I priced the CVS on 1st Ave near 14st. The non-aerosol hairspray was 20 cents above CVS' own website price, and one of the highest in NY. (Yes, I have hair.) You can save at least a dollar or more buying at another place. So beware. Look around for a better deal on all your items.

I love warm Quaker Oats in the morning. Gristedes is not the place to get it, nor is Associated, though their price is less. Look around!

Macular Degeneration Support Group

If you are currently diagnosed with Macular Degeneration, the New York Eye & Ear Infirmary is offering a support group for you. Conveniently located next to the Peter Cooper Village Stuyvesant Town apartment complex, our group offers the opportunity to share stories with other members, listen to expert guest speakers, and learn coping strategies to reduce stress. Our group runs on the first Wednesday of every month and we would enjoy seeing you there.
Please contact Baptiste Nicolas, Social Work Assistant at 212-979-4105 for further information and to see if this group is right for you!